LIVE Virtuosa 13/5/22 7 nights Norwegian Fjords

[kernow]

We had 2 negative antigen tests yesterday so I think I can finally start this.😀

 

We will be driving to Southampton tomorrow morning to board Virtuosa. We had originally booked Magnifica for a week in Feb but when omicron hit and some of those cruises were cancelled we decided to move the booking to this one on Virtuosa. We'd been on this ship last June and loved it and we've never done the Fjords before so very excited. After our upgrade to YC last year we've booked it again, originally a YIN but our bid was accepted and we now have a balcony. 

 

Our ports are Haugesund, Hellesylt/Geiranger, Flaam and Stavanger plus 2 days at sea. We've booked the train independently for Flaam but will play the rest by ear.

 

Finishing off the packing today as we didn't want to do it before the tests and tempt fate. Also double checking that all the paperwork is printed off, am I the only one who finds all the pre cruise stuff so stressful now? Then it's counting down the hours until tomorrow.

 

 

[corky&linda]

Have a great time!

We'll be following everything you blog.

 

Particularly interested in if it's warm enough to spend time on the pool deck and how busy the ship and YC are. Also, how embarkation goes. (I think it should be easier in YC).

Also, my wife wants to bring a butane hotbrush. Is that allowed?

 

And, yes, it is a bit stressful double checking all the paperwork - but it certainly builds the excitement!!!

 

Enjoy!

 

 

2 hours ago, kernow said:

We had 2 negative antigen tests yesterday so I think I can finally start this.😀

 

We will be driving to Southampton tomorrow morning to board Virtuosa. We had originally booked Magnifica for a week in Feb but when omicron hit and some of those cruises were cancelled we decided to move the booking to this one on Virtuosa. We'd been on this ship last June and loved it and we've never done the Fjords before so very excited. After our upgrade to YC last year we've booked it again, originally a YIN but our bid was accepted and we now have a balcony. 

 

Our ports are Haugesund, Hellesylt/Geiranger, Flaam and Stavanger plus 2 days at sea. We've booked the train independently for Flaam but will play the rest by ear.

 

Finishing off the packing today as we didn't want to do it before the tests and tempt fate. Also double checking that all the paperwork is printed off, am I the only one who finds all the pre cruise stuff so stressful now? Then it's counting down the hours until tomorrow.

 

 

 

[defbref]

I'm also on this cruise, may well see you in YC. Travelling Solo, bit of a trek for me to Southampton, so setting off shortly to stop overnight at Oxford, then finish the journey to the port in the morning.

[kernow]

I'm wondering about how busy it will be myself, there were less than 1000 when we were on last June so it will certainly be a lot busier than that! I've seen pics from the current cruise where they are back to having parties on the Esplanade so certainly looking forward to having a bit of atmosphere again.

 

 

I've never seen anyone ask about a butane hotbrush and have no real idea but would guess no. Maybe someone else will have a definite answer, if not I will try and find out onboard.

[kernow]

2 minutes ago, defbref said:

I'm also on this cruise, may well see you in YC. Travelling Solo, bit of a trek for me to Southampton, so setting off shortly to stop overnight at Oxford, then finish the journey to the port in the morning.

We'll look out for you. It's about a three and a half hour drive for us but working today so couldn't stay overnight this time. Having an early start tomorrow.

[Cruiseforever11]

21 hours ago, kernow said:

We had 2 negative antigen tests yesterday so I think I can finally start this.😀

 

We will be driving to Southampton tomorrow morning to board Virtuosa. We had originally booked Magnifica for a week in Feb but when omicron hit and some of those cruises were cancelled we decided to move the booking to this one on Virtuosa. We'd been on this ship last June and loved it and we've never done the Fjords before so very excited. After our upgrade to YC last year we've booked it again, originally a YIN but our bid was accepted and we now have a balcony. 

 

Our ports are Haugesund, Hellesylt/Geiranger, Flaam and Stavanger plus 2 days at sea. We've booked the train independently for Flaam but will play the rest by ear.

 

Finishing off the packing today as we didn't want to do it before the tests and tempt fate. Also double checking that all the paperwork is printed off, am I the only one who finds all the pre cruise stuff so stressful now? Then it's counting down the hours until tomorrow.

 

 

Have a great time we are now sailing into Southampton for you to board!(06.13am typing this) BTW Hola! Speciality restaurant, if you can is well worth it. It was really nice food.

Have a great time! 🌞🥂

[kernow]

We've just boarded, sitting in Top Sail lounge with a glass of 🍾. 

 

We arrived at the car park at 10.20 and were onboard by 10.40. Luggage drop off for YC is right outside the terminal and from there a butler escorts you straight through. Once up the escalator there is a separate seated area for YC where they check you in. We were greeted by a familiar face, the YC director Robbie Sheriffs who we met onboard last year as a fellow passenger. He had told us he was now working for MSC but had no idea he was now on Virtuosa so a nice surprise. 

The queue for general boarding was not very long and seemed to be moving quickly. I did mean to look if there were Aurea/Diamond lines but we were through so quickly I didn't have chance. I think they must have been upstairs after security.

[corky&linda]

Wow! That was quick.

What time will your cabin be ready?

[kernow]

14 minutes ago, corky&linda said:

Wow! That was quick.

What time will your cabin be ready?

We are in the cabin now, the couple who were escorted on with us were able to go straight to their cabin, ours took around another 15 minutes to be ready.

 

We're going for a wander around the ship and then off for lunch.

[dexddd]

We had Robbie last fall out of Miami. What a great, hard working person.

[kernow]

The weather was beautiful this afternoon and we had a lovely sailaway with music on the YC deck. We passed RCL Anthem on the way out. 

Now enjoying some pre dinner cocktails. 

[Gordy Pordy]

Hi Kernow. Hope you are having a great time. Quick question, who did you use for your antigen tests?

 

[kernow]

23 minutes ago, Gordy Pordy said:

Hi Kernow. Hope you are having a great time. Quick question, who did you use for your antigen tests?

 

We used Lloyd's pharmacy, purchased them online and uploaded the results.  It was very easy in the end.

[Nunagoras]

Nice review!... Have a nice sailing!...

 

Wonderful to see some signs of normalcy coming again to the cruise industry. Hope that to stay and never goes out again!...

 

Surely; I'm a non drinker for health reasons, so once on a cruise I need to rely on the alcohol free cocktails they usually have... But, from the photos and from what I see on the ships, it seems clear that MSC cocktails do have such an exclusive "heart" of their own!... Those 2 ones on your photo just have that "heart" at its highest!... Even the non alcoholic ones do have it!... Hope to have them again one day, sooner rather than later, possibly 2023!...

 

Have a nice day!...

[kernow]

8 hours ago, Nunagoras said:

Nice review!... Have a nice sailing!...

 

Wonderful to see some signs of normalcy coming again to the cruise industry. Hope that to stay and never goes out again!...

 

Surely; I'm a non drinker for health reasons, so once on a cruise I need to rely on the alcohol free cocktails they usually have... But, from the photos and from what I see on the ships, it seems clear that MSC cocktails do have such an exclusive "heart" of their own!... Those 2 ones on your photo just have that "heart" at its highest!... Even the non alcoholic ones do have it!... Hope to have them again one day, sooner rather than later, possibly 2023!...

 

Have a nice day!...

Thank you. The cocktails in the picture were a Purple Rain and an Aviation Martini, both delicious. Something we love to do on a cruise is try out all the different cocktails. A few days in I'm usually 'alcoholed out' so I do have some of the non alcoholic ones too.

 

We've done a couple of cruises since the re start but this one does seem more like the old days, no compulsory masks for passengers, no mention of social distancing and more of the party type events. According to the planner the silent disco is back tonight, really looking forward to that. 🕺

 

[kernow]

Some random food pics from last night's dinner. We've only eaten in YC so far and food has been fab.

We got up at 4.30 am yesterday so after dinner we were flagging. We had coffee in the Top Sail lounge and listened to the pianist/singer there for a while before going to bed at 10. Clocks went forward an hour so it was really 11😁. Hope to do better tonight!

[corky&linda]

I'm drooling here like Pavlov's dog...........!

[Roadrunner1956]

Just got off msc virtuoso on the 13th, hope your cruise is better then ours, they ran out of English beer on day two then steadily ran out of everything else, food never changed just moved around.

anyway have a good cruise

[kernow]

13 minutes ago, Roadrunner1956 said:

Just got off msc virtuoso on the 13th, hope your cruise is better then ours, they ran out of English beer on day two then steadily ran out of everything else, food never changed just moved around.

anyway have a good cruise

Yes, I've seen quite a few comments about things unavailable. We were chatting to Robbie about it this morning, he admitted that MSC along with all the other lines are having supply problems at the moment, he said that they ordered so many pallets of some things and only half are being delivered. I've seen similar posts on the RCL board so I think it's a worldwide problem at the moment. Luckily for us we like a wide variety of drinks so if it happens I'm sure we will find something we like.

[CaroleC]

On 5/13/2022 at 6:14 AM, Cruiseforever11 said:

Have a great time we are now sailing into Southampton for you to board!(06.13am typing this) BTW Hola! Speciality restaurant, if you can is well worth it. It was really nice food.

Have a great time! 🌞🥂

Hi Suzanne, hope you had a lovely time. How was the suite, was it worth the extra money? I’ve just put a bid in for a 2 bedroomed suite on our RCL cruise next month. I’ll be amazed if I’m successful though as I only bid the minimum 🤑

[Cruiseforever11]

33 minutes ago, CaroleC said:

Hi Suzanne, hope you had a lovely time. How was the suite, was it worth the extra money? I’ve just put a bid in for a 2 bedroomed suite on our RCL cruise next month. I’ll be amazed if I’m successful though as I only bid the minimum 🤑

Hi Carol 

Yes it was worth every penny. It was nice to have a separate bedroom from the living area. Nick had his own walk in wardrobe and it was big enough to put all 3 suitcases in and his clothes and shoes and still have room. I had the big wardrobe in the bedroom. It was nice that we when came back from a tour we could grab a cuppa read the daily programs work out what to do next or just go and sit on balcony or in the hot tub. So going to bed was like home a separate space. We spoke to a YC steward who let us have sneaky look round the duplex next door to us as that was empty and we had a way bigger balcony and our cabin didn't feel so cram in. However having said that if I had 11k to spend on that cruise and have the yc experience then yes it would of been nice to have a duplex suite. It was a great cruise and we would like to do that cruise again and do some different tours etc. I hope your successful on your bid it's nice to have that extra bit of space. So yes go for it! Back on the Virtuosa in August and yes I am going into YC but just a normal balcony in yc! 🌞🥂

[kernow]

39 minutes ago, Cruiseforever11 said:

Hi Carol 

Yes it was worth every penny. It was nice to have a separate bedroom from the living area. Nick had his own walk in wardrobe and it was big enough to put all 3 suitcases in and his clothes and shoes and still have room. I had the big wardrobe in the bedroom. It was nice that we when came back from a tour we could grab a cuppa read the daily programs work out what to do next or just go and sit on balcony or in the hot tub. So going to bed was like home a separate space. We spoke to a YC steward who let us have sneaky look round the duplex next door to us as that was empty and we had a way bigger balcony and our cabin didn't feel so cram in. However having said that if I had 11k to spend on that cruise and have the yc experience then yes it would of been nice to have a duplex suite. It was a great cruise and we would like to do that cruise again and do some different tours etc. I hope your successful on your bid it's nice to have that extra bit of space. So yes go for it! Back on the Virtuosa in August and yes I am going into YC but just a normal balcony in yc! 🌞🥂

Your suite sounds lovely. If you compare the Aurea suite to a YC balcony do you have a preference or are they both good in different ways? Funnily enough we were talking to another couple in YC about this earlier. Of course the YC royal suite would be the answer but unfortunately that is out of our price bracket😂.

[CaroleC]

37 minutes ago, Cruiseforever11 said:

Hi Carol 

Yes it was worth every penny. It was nice to have a separate bedroom from the living area. Nick had his own walk in wardrobe and it was big enough to put all 3 suitcases in and his clothes and shoes and still have room. I had the big wardrobe in the bedroom. It was nice that we when came back from a tour we could grab a cuppa read the daily programs work out what to do next or just go and sit on balcony or in the hot tub. So going to bed was like home a separate space. We spoke to a YC steward who let us have sneaky look round the duplex next door to us as that was empty and we had a way bigger balcony and our cabin didn't feel so cram in. However having said that if I had 11k to spend on that cruise and have the yc experience then yes it would of been nice to have a duplex suite. It was a great cruise and we would like to do that cruise again and do some different tours etc. I hope your successful on your bid it's nice to have that extra bit of space. So yes go for it! Back on the Virtuosa in August and yes I am going into YC but just a normal balcony in yc! 🌞🥂

It will be hard going back to a standard balcony, having a suite spoils you lol. So glad you enjoyed it. We’ve had suites on RCL several times, albeit junior ones, and really miss the extra space when I feel the price doesn’t justify booking one. I looked at what the 2 bedroomed suite I’ve just bid on would cost and it’s over £8.5k! 😳

[kernow]

5 minutes ago, CaroleC said:

It will be hard going back to a standard balcony, having a suite spoils you lol. So glad you enjoyed it. We’ve had suites on RCL several times, albeit junior ones, and really miss the extra space when I feel the price doesn’t justify booking one. I looked at what the 2 bedroomed suite I’ve just bid on would cost and it’s over £8.5k! 😳

Carole, I know you had a similar JS to us on Anthem last Oct. I think the YC balcony feels like a similar size to that although the balcony on here is not as deep.

[Cruiseforever11]

1 hour ago, kernow said:

Your suite sounds lovely. If you compare the Aurea suite to a YC balcony do you have a preference or are they both good in different ways? Funnily enough we were talking to another couple in YC about this earlier. Of course the YC royal suite would be the answer but unfortunately that is out of our price bracket😂.

Our Aurea suite Balcony was huge see pics. We had 4 friends round and we were all on the balcony with room to spare.

The yc duplex suite balcony we saw was a lot smaller taken up by the hot tub. Pic of the front of ship I've highlighted our cabin. The cabin to the right is a yc duplex.